Frozen
by TheDoublemintTwins11
Summary: Zoro and Luffy are lost, injured, and cold on an unfamiliar winter island, and to make matters worse, they're giving each other the silent treatment. :Gen, minor language:


**This is a one shot for the prompt "Frozen". I was originally writing this with the intention of making it multi-chapter…but then I got lazy about it… Heh…Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Frozen**

**-DMTwins-**

The snow crunched softly in the otherwise still night as a pair of huddled figures tromped through the snow. One stood a way's apart from the other, walking a few paces behind; neither made any move to acknowledge the other's presence.

Night had fallen hours ago, eliminating all hope of either of them recognizing a landmark that would help them find their way. The stars were worthless to them—neither knew how to navigate with them, and even if they did they wouldn't be able to use them, because they didn't know in which direction the ship was.

Their best chance was to cut their losses and bunker down until morning, but both were too stubborn to give up and do so. Neither wanted to be the first to admit that they didn't know exactly what they were doing.

Zoro stole a glance back at his captain, who walked with eyes transfixed on some mark far in the distance, an angry frown creasing his forehead. He was walking behind Zoro, which made it exceedingly difficult to glance over inconspicuously. Zoro had given up on inconspicuous miles ago, but Luffy couldn't seem to be bothered to care. He seemed determined to not make eye-contact with the swordsman, either.

Neither of them was dressed for the weather—both were wearing their normal, summer, attire—though neither seemed terribly bothered by the cold other than the rosy color the exposed skin was turning. They hadn't had enough warning to change—almost as soon as they had arrived at this island, the ship was attacked.

The island was large and altogether unremarkable, making it difficult for a normal—non-directionally challenged—person to keep their bearings. The wide expanse of fresh snow in every direction didn't help their cause, nor did their total lack of cooperation with each other.

Luffy's sandal-clad foot slipped beneath him, and he faltered for balance. Zoro's first instinct was, or course, to reach out and steady the boy, but Luffy quickly regained his balance and shot Zoro a glare, as though to assert that he certainly did _not_ need his help, before turning sharply away.

Zoro snorted at turned away as well. If Luffy was going to act that way, fine. He wasn't going to go out of his way to make amends that Luffy obviously had no desire to make. He hadn't even done anything wrong.

Luffy glanced over at Zoro when he was certain that the swordsman had turned away. He watched the uneven steps his swordsman was taking with contempt. It was obvious that the other was trying to hide the limp, slight as it was, but Luffy couldn't help but notice the uneven tracks left in their wake, or the occasional splotch of color in the snow.

He was so stupid! Luffy did _not_ need his help—he could take care of himself.

He clenched his already-set jaw tighter. He was mad at Zoro, for sure. But even more than that, he was mad at himself, not only for not protecting Zoro, but for needing protection.

Even though he definitely _didn't_ need protection. Zoro was just being stupid.

-----Earlier-----

"Oi, Luffy, give that back!"

Sanji rolled his eyes when the familiar shriek erupted from the galley. It was followed by a crashing noise, and another familiar shriek. "Sanji, I need more! Luffy ate mine!"

"Shut up, Usopp. You already ate. You don't _need _seconds. I promise you won't die without them." This was followed my more crashing, and another indignant shriek.

"But that was Luffy's _sixth_ helping! How come he gets sixths, and I don't even get seconds?"

"Because he's the captain?" This was met by much agreement from Luffy.

"Shut up, Zoro! No one asked you!" Usopp slammed his fist down to punctuate the last yell. Sanji ignored the resulting scuffle, turning his back to the counter, which he had yet to clean up. The sound of breaking china, however, dragged him back to the table. With a swift kick, both Luffy and Usopp were across the room, clutching their injuries.

"That's good china, damn it! Be more careful…and clean that up!" He snapped. When both of them offered a reluctant nod, Sanji turned back to the counter. Zoro snorted, causing an about-face from Sanji.

Before they could start a fight, the speakers from the crows nest echoed through the galley. "Captain, there's an island ahead! It's probably a winter island. I'm chilled to the bone… although all I am is bones. _Skull joke! _Yohoho—_"_ The speaker turned off with a click, cutting the musician off mid-laugh.

There was one beat of stillness before Luffy comprehended the announcement and leaped up and made a mad dash for the door, flinging it open to allow himself, Chopper, and Usopp outside.

"Get you asses back here and clean that up!" Sanji yelled, indicating the broken dishes, but the three were already gone. With a sigh he stopped and scraped the pieces into his palm to be discarded.

Nami smiled. "Right on time. We'll head to the other side of the island to the port. We need to stock up, and that's the only town on this island. She smiled gratefully when Sanji placed a dessert on the table in front of her. Luffy had left the door open in his haste, so Robin reached over to close it. Before she could, however, the speakers came on again, more urgent this time:

"Pirates!" Usopp shrieked into the microphone. He had most likely climbed up to both avoid the confrontation, and to gain a higher vantage point for his sniping. As if to punctuate this, the sound of cannon fire in the distance, as well as the ships violent tip to the left as it was rocked by the impact, jolted those remaining in the galley.

In no time, the rest of the crew was outside, where the pirates were already boarding them. Or, perhaps "pirates" wasn't the right word, for the ship attacking them was flying no flag. Zoro had no idea _what_ that meant.

Drawing his swords, Zoro cut down two men immediately in front of him. The deck was swarming with unfamiliar faces, but Zoro ignored them as he scanned the deck for his captain. Three men in front of him dropped dead, seemingly for no reason. Zoro waved thanks in the direction of the crow's nest before running to the railing to board the other ship.

The others could defend the ship just fine, and he wanted to find his captain before he did something stupid. A shower of men were forced back and over the side just behind Zoro as he leaped over the edge, proving that he was right in thinking that his crewmates could handle themselves.

Zoro ran across the deck which was, ironically, less crowded with attackers than the Sunny's. Zoro smirked when he caught sight of Luffy, who was very busy taunting the man who Zoro could only assume was the captain.

The swordsman cut through three men, all who were boasting about claiming his bounty. So they were bounty-hunters? Well, that certainly explained both their lack of flag, and their sheer numbers. The world was filled with gold-diggers, after all.

An explosion behind him rocked the ship, reminding Zoro that both ships _did_ have cannons on board. He turned back to Luffy. He had just punched the "captain" in the face, sending him sprawling backwards.

Two men were approaching from behind with swords. Zoro waited for his captain to take them out. Luffy was busy being shot in the head. When he realized this, it only took a moment for Zoro to leap forward and stop them both.

They didn't even touch him—he wasn't _that_ incompetent. It was only a moment after he'd cut the two men advancing on his captain down to size that pain bloomed in the back of his leg, spreading outward in sharp tendrils.

Stupid! He should have seen that coming; should have blocked it.

Luffy whirled at the gunshot, saw his swordsman. What happed after that happened almost simultaneously, or at least, as Zoro remembered, it did.

Luffy had adopted a terrible expression. One that Zoro couldn't help but think was, in part, directed at him. The bounty hunters—all of them—feared for their lives, as Luffy stretched one leg far into the air, intending to destroy the ship entirely.

And just as he did so, dock Zero on the Sunny went off, most likely because they didn't realize they were missing two crew members. Their only _other_ foothold blasted away, just as Luffy destroyed the one they were currently using. Zoro grabbed Luffy around the neck, and Luffy grabbed the top of the destroyed ship's mast. Even as it fell toward the ocean below, the captain of the straw hats rocketed himself and his swordsman toward the island, leaving the remaining bounty hunters to drown.

The landing was pleasantly soft, at least, compared to most of their landings. The two landed with a soft 'thwump' in the snow, a good distance from the shore. When Zoro looked, he realized that the Sunny was nowhere in sight.

Great! Just perfect.

The swordsman went to stand and winced, remembering the gunshot wound. It wasn't long for him to tie his bandana around the wound, but when he finished, Luffy was waiting on him.

"Okay… Nami said there was only one town on this island so we should go—"

"Why the _hell_ did you do that?" Luffy demanded. Perhaps he wasn't waiting on Zoro after all. Zoro raised an eyebrow as he got to his feet, asking the unspoken question between them: do what?

"I don't need you running around, getting in the way!" Luffy continued. Zoro glowered.

"Getting in the way? I was _protecting _you!" He barked. Luffy leveled him a glared and jabbed a finger into the middle of the chest, Zoro swatted it away.

"I don't need you talking bullets for me! In case you haven't noticed, they bounce right off!"

"Oh, and do swords bounce off, too? I was _trying_ to help!"

"Well I don't need your help." He turned away "You're such an idiot." Zoro scoffed and turned away was well, starting their trek through the snow. He couldn't believe this! Leave it to Luffy to be completely ungrateful, not to mention immature.

The Sunny was gone, and there was a chance they weren't yet aware of the missing crewmates. Odds were, when they discovered they were gone, if they hadn't already, they would simply decide to go to the island's only town, where they would assume the missing members would go.

He grimaced at the expanse of snow before him, with some drifts so high that he couldn't even see over the top of them, and again at the fact that Luffy was completely _ignoring _him. His captain was honestly mad at him…For nothing! Zoro scowled at the anguish his leg showed him with every step, willing it to stop acting up. Instead, it got worse, growing in intensity.

This was going to be a long fucking walk.

-----

Luffy frowned. Not out of anger this time, but out of worry. Zoro had completely given up on concealing his limp. Not only that, but it seemed to be getting worse, and although he was no doctor by any means, he did know that "walking it off" wasn't exactly an accepted practice.

He bit his lip and sighed, the plume of warm air forming a white cloud that quickly dissolved. He'd spotted a hole in the snow a few yards back, and the longer he thought on it, the more he was tempted to stop there.

"Hey, Zoro?" The swordsman didn't respond. Luffy's brows pulled together into a frown. The look on Zoro's face seemed somewhat distant, so Luffy reached out to touch his arm. With a start, the larger man turned back to Luffy. The disoriented look on his face was enough to stop Luffy in his tracks, but it disappeared in an instant without a trace. "Let's stop for tonight." He insisted, motioning to the hole. Zoro nodded slightly and followed when Luffy began to lead him back the way they'd come.

There were a few moments of awkward silence as the two climbed into the hollow space in the snow. It seemed to be a naturally hollow spot, since it didn't seem to have been carved out by anything. It wasn't large, but that was probably for the best, as the smaller it was, the more quickly it would warm up.

It wasn't until they'd sat down did Luffy see how bad Zoro's leg was getting. He seemed more-or-less unfazed, as he untied the blood-soaked, improvised bandage and began trying to tear the bottom half of his good leg's pant leg off.

"Zoro…"

"I'm sorry." The swordsman interrupted, nudging Luffy's hands away with his elbow so he could see what he was doing. Luffy was taken aback by this, and sat for a moment in dumb silence.

"That's not fair! I'm the one who should be—"

"Don't." He winced, pulling the replacement bandage tight. "I'm fine. You're fine. Just…don't be mad at me anymore." He paused, smirking, "I doesn't suit you."

"Zoro—"

"It's cold."

"Quit interrupting me, damn it! Why'd you have to go and get shot? You're so reckless!" Zoro shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing the exposed skin on the biceps.

"Because you're my captain, of course I'm going to watch out for you." Luffy frowned and looked away.

"Just…don't do it again…" Zoro shrugged, but didn't promise. Luffy stared him down for a few moments before giving up—he obviously wasn't going to agree.

"You're such an idiot…"

"It's cold." Zoro said again, followed briefly by the sound of chattering teeth, before Zoro seemed to bite down on that too, sending their own personal space into virtual silence. The only sound was the faint howling of the wind picking up outside.

"Your lips are turning blue." Luffy said as he crawled over to sit beside the swordsman. He leaned against the larger man, who seemed to be radiating heat.

"S-so are yours…shit it's cold." Luffy hummed as he felt his eyelids drifting closed. Despite the cold, he was damn tired and it was hard to not fall asleep even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that falling asleep in the snow was a bad idea. Reluctantly, he shook his head, and then nudged Zoro awake as well. The swordsman blinked a few times and his brows furrowed as a frown creased his forehead.

"What's that?" he mumbled, glancing up at the ceiling. Luffy raised an eyebrow and gave him a crooked smirk, expecting some kind of punch line.

"What's what?"

"Do you hear that?" He prompted, seeming focused. Luffy cocked his head to the side, listening. At first, he heard nothing but the wind and their own breathing, but after a few long moments, after growing used to the other noises, a new one made itself known. Zoro saw when Luffy heard it in his expression. A low, mechanical hum was riding just above the wind, barely audible over its howling. It sounded liked the waiver.

**I would love feedback, so please review!**


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